Pokémon Go Community days will force players outside – and they're not happy

techradar.com:

Niantic is doubling down in its efforts to get Pokémon Go Community Days back to their pre-pandemic splendor. But not everyone is thrilled at the idea of mingling with other Trainers out in the wild.

Following March's in-person Pokémon Go Community Day meetups, Niantic is tweaking subsequent events, starting next month. The April Community Day is being cut down from six hours to three in the name of getting Trainers outside and mingling. 

Paired with February's removal of the Incense stationary bonus, the developer is really hammering home the message that Pokémon Go is a social experience – and it's high time we all got back out there together. 

The Pokémon Go Community Day adjustments are currently in the test phase. But it looks like Niantic is keen to return to the pre-pandemic state of affairs. And apparently, the players want that too, according to the developer.

Community Day Hours were extended from three to six in 2020 to cater to the new norm the pandemic ushered in. Since then, only a paltry 5% of Pokémon Go Trainers have been participating in the events for more than three hours.

We got a little taste of the return to the game's original Community Day format in January, with Community Day Classic. Speaking to Dot Esports, Niantic's Michael Steranka, Pokémon Go's live game director, said that there were «calls from Trainers to revert it back to three hours.» Coupled with the data, it seems to check out. But not everyone is thrilled about the post-pandemic plan to 'get back to normal'.

Some people are still citing Covid concerns, with April's meetup generating a thread on the topic. As well as general health and safety being flagged up, some people are having to test regularly for their jobs and don't want the